The present invention generally relates to a headrest in a vehicle and, more particularly, to a stowable headrest that can be transferred between an in-use position extending above the backrest body of a seat and a stowage position behind the seat.
There exists a number of adjustable vehicular headrests mounted to passenger seats for use in vehicles for providing passenger head restraint. The well known conventional headrests include a padded headrest body covered with a flexible upholstery material and extend above the back support region of a seat with the headrest typically attached directly to the seat. Some headrests are equipped with sliding connector rods that allow the headrest to be adjusted and removed from the seat as a separate unit. However, vehicles usually do not provide a convenient storage compartment for the removed headrest. In addition, there is a need to provide headrests for all passengers of the vehicle, including providing a headrest for the middle section of a three-passenger seat in the rear of the passenger compartment. However, the presence of an elevated headrest above the middle section of the back seat can block the driver""s view behind the vehicle as seen by way of the rearview mirror.
Although there exists a variety of adjustable headrests, there remains a need for providing a headrest which can be conveniently made available to a passenger in the back seat of a vehicle when in use and readily adjustable to a stowed position that does not interfere with the driver""s rearview line of sight.
Accordingly, it is therefore an aspect of the present invention to provide for a stowable headrest that may be easily moved to an upright position when in use, and to a stowed position, out of line of sight of the driver""s rear view. It is a further aspect of the present invention to provide for such a headrest which may be easily held in both the raised, use position and the lowered, stowed position.
To achieve these and other aspects and advantages, the pop-up headrest of the present invention includes a headrest body having an internal support frame, and generally provided with a padded front face and covered with flexible upholstery material. The headrest body is disposed within a tray generally located behind the seat and is pivotally connected to the rear ledge of the vehicle such that the headrest body pivots about the rear ledge to raise and lower the headrest. A pivoting strut, preferably having a pneumatic cylinder and forcibly actuated rod, is pivotally supported between a pair of flanges and has an outer-extending rod connected to the headrest body. The strut with pneumatic cylinder pivots to swing to an over-center position to hold the headrest in a stowed position when retracted and a raised use position when deployed. The over-center positioning of the strut forcibly urges the end of the rod away from the strut cylinder body. When the headrest is raised to a use position, the strut pivots and its rod forcibly extends to lift and hold the headrest in an operable use position. When the headrest is manually returned to its retracted, stowed position, the strut pivots to its over-center position and holds the headrest in its retracted, stowed position.